Case Study Cyclones (Katrina, Haiyan, Harvey) Flashcards
Where and When was Hurricane Katrina?
South-East USA
29th August, 2005
What was Katrina’s magnitude?
Category 3
Describe the Forecasting for Katrina
- USA has a sophisticated monitoring system to predict when a cyclone will strike
- National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in Florida tracks hurricanes using satellite images
Describe the Warning and Evacuation for Katrina
- NHC issued a warning on 26th August for Louisiana as it continued to track the hurricane
- Louisiana declared a state of emergency and 70-80% of New Orleans residents were evacuated
- This reduced the number of people killed as lots of people had left devastated areas
Describe the Defences for Katrina
- The city of New Orleans was badly damaged - flood defences (eg embankments) failed
- Caused widespread flooding - over 80% of the city was underwater
Describe the Environmental impacts of Katrina
- Coastal habitats such as sea turtle breeding beaches were damaged
- Coastal conservation areas were destroyed
- Flooding damaged oil refineries in Louisiana, causing major oil spills
Describe the Impacts on people due to Katrina
- More than 1,800 people killed
- 300,000 houses were destroyed
- 100,000’s of people made homeless
- 3 million people left without electricity
- 230,000 jobs lost from damaged businesses
- Roads were damaged and bridges collapsed
Why was Typhoon Haiyan so dangerous?
Category 5
5m storm surge
Why was the city of Tacloban so vulnerable to the impacts of Haiyan?
- Low-lying coastal region - prone to floods, storm surge
- Located towards the east of the Philippines, directly in Haiyan’s path
Describe Warning and Evacuation for Haiyan
- Japan was assisting the Philippines to track Haiyan
- The government used the Public Storm Warning Signal to warn peoplw
- Originally, only a level 1 warning was issued, but the warnings suddenly increased in severity
- Most of the eastern islands were under a level 4 warning by the time Haiyan struck
- Some time provided for people to evacuate as there was 2 days warning
Describe the Response to Haiyan
- Relief effort slowed by blocked roads and major damage to local airports
- No sources of clean water available due to burst pipes and contamination
- No electricity, so evacuation could only happen during daylight hours
- NGOs contributed to the relief and recovery efforts
- UK provided portable toilets
Describe Defences for Haiyan
- Infrastructure and flood defences were not well-prepared and relatively weak
- Not constructed to withstand extreme winds and storm surges
- Lack of evacuation centres
Primary Impacts on people of Haiyan
- Estimated 6,300 deaths
- 4 million people displaced and left homeless
- Infrastructure (roads, bridges, homes, airports, power lines) damaged severely
- Damage to livestock and crops, destroying the livelihood of many farmers
Secondary Impacts on people of Haiyan
- Outbreaks of diseases such as diarrhoea - unsanitary conditions
- Widespread looting from escaped prisoners
Environmental impacts of Haiyan
- Destruction of forests, especially mangroves
- Oil spill
- Coral reefs were damaged, affecting marine biodiversity
- Landslides in areas, damaging ecosystems
- Blocked roads
- Farmland ruined
Where and When was Typhoon Haiyan
Philippines
3rd November 2013
What were the Environmental Impacts of Harvey?
- Chemical spills from a pipeline
- Stagnant waters carried West Nile virus
- Alligators
- Damage to swamp on the coastline
Primary Impacts on people due to Harvey?
- 107 deaths
- 1,000 homes destroyed
- 17,000 homes with major damage
- 30,000 people displaced and left homeless
Economic Impacts of Harvey?
- $125 billion of damage
- Oil refinery closed - fuel shortage
- Cotton fields damaged, harvest ruined
- Insurance bill of $10 billion
Relief / Response to Harvey
- Charity response eg American Red Cross
- Commercial planes used to evacuate and bring in supplies
- Local companies provided meals for volunteers and victims
- Israel sent $1 million, Venezuela sent $5 million and Mexico sent volunteer rescuers
- Federal government provided $15 billion for flood insurance
Preparation and Response in USA
-NHC uses weather satellites that operate every day gathering information about the location and intensity of cyclones nearby
-Satellite technology allows them to predict wind speed, storm surge heights and the path of the cyclone
-Regular forecasts given on the TV and radio
-Some houses built on stilts to mitigate the flooding hazard
Warning and Evacuation in the USA
-Evacuation signs and routes to guide people where to go
-Hurricane warnings widely broadcasted on the news
-NHC educates people on what to do using the money from the government
-Free data available to the public
What were the Economic impacts of Haiyan?
-$5.8 million in damage
-6 million workers lost income
-Farmland destroyed
-Tacloban airport destroyed
-Fishing communities lost boats
When was Hurricane Harvey?
25th August 2017
Houston, Texas
